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We can’t say that Orwell didn’t warn us. He did. And today “doublespeak” has created a world where it is often the most “conservative” businesses, industries and business leaders who act with the least concern for long-term business success—risking their reputations and brands today for the
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Companies need talented, creative people to compete. And more than ever, companies need the right culture, mission, and meaningful work to attract and retain that talent. On Tuesday local business leaders met at the North Carolina Museum of History for a panel titled, “The Great Talent Search: Creating a Culture
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While I was preparing to moderate a panel for the Raleigh Chamber of Commerce recently, someone asked me why we named our company New Kind? Perhaps it's the gray hair. It's understandable. It’s simple really. At New Kind, we believe that when competitive environments change,
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In my last positioning post, I discussed the four key questions you must answer if you want your positioning research to lead you to effective brand positioning. So how exactly do you discover the answers to the four key questions? Do you need to hire an expensive market research firm
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We work in the "finest office building in North Carolina." At least that’s how Frank Harmon described The Small Office Building at 105 Brooks Avenue a decade ago. Frank should know. From driving into the covered parking lot to the crunch of the gravel under your feet
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In early 2010, New Kind began a project with the Communications Office of the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) to help test new ways for the department to engage with its “customers”—the citizens of North Carolina.As in many states, North Carolina’s Department of Transportation is often
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The other day I noticed that the application deadline to be considered for the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For list is this week. My company is too small to be considered for this honor (you must have at least 1000 employees), but I always pay close attention when
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Over the years, I've had many people label me as a marketing guy just because I help build brands. I don't like being labelled, but I particularly don't like that marketing label. Why? In my view, traditional marketing sets up an adversarial relationship, a
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To create great brand positioning, you must do your homework. In a brand positioning project, this homework mostly consists of doing some research about the brand ahead of time. But how do you organize your research? In this post, I'll teach you a simple tip I learned from
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The June issue of Harvard Business Review features an interesting article by Roger Martin (one of the leading management minds of our time and author of the just published book Fixing The Game). The article tells the story of how Scott Cook, founder and current Chairman of Intuit, kicked off
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Last night I happened upon this great interview with economic historian Elin Whitney-Smith in strategy+business, Booz & Company’s excellent online magazine. Titled A Long-Wave Theory on Today’s Digital Revolution, the article looks at previous periods of disruption throughout history in an attempt to better understand
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I believe almost all great brands are built on a foundation of great positioning. I feel so strongly about positioning that one of the core elements of my blog is a series of brand positioning tips I learned over the years as an eager student of classic brand positioning. Sometimes